GET READY FOR A HOT, HOT SUMMER
CLIMATE// Brace yourself, India. The Indian Meteorological Department has forecast a hot spring and a much hotter summer this year, with the average temperatures likely to be above normal by more than 1 degree Celcius. Its April, summer has begun and the days are hot. And it is going to get a lot hotter soon before the cool rains arrive in June.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heat wave conditions across most of northern India this summer. In states like Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, temperatures will be over a degree hotter than usual. A jump of 1°C doesn’t sound like a lot, but when it is already boiling hot at 44°C, a small increase can make a lot of impact. IMD says the regions where the temperature rise is likely to be moderate are south India and four north-eastern states. The outlook shos that the seasonal average mean temperature in Tamil Nadu, south interior Karnataka, Rayalaseema and north-eastern states of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura is likely to be less than 0.5 degree Celsius above normal.
It is going to be one of the hottest summers ever, say weather experts. This also means that northern India will be drier than usual with fewer summer showers. The good news for central and southern India is that temperatures will be the same as usual and possibly even slightly lower than normal in some places.
It’s the season when one feels most thirsty, the time when you fancy a dip in a swimming pool or nearby lake. However, this year, India is also facing a water shortage. Reservoirs are lower this year as compared to last and the searing heat may make the water evaporate faster too. The water situation has been party caused by low winter rainfall and snowfall. As many northern rivers are fed by ice melting in the high Himalayas, when it snows less, rivers run low.
So conserve water as much as you can, and stay out of the hot sun too!
RAIPUR, PATNA ON MOST POLLUTED CITIES
SURVEY// Some of India’s cities rank among the most polluted in the world. The lists rarely remain unchanged but if a recent one is to be believed, Raipur, Patna and Gwalior are among the top ten in the world; Delhi is at number 11. The pollution of a certain region is gauged through the pollution index which is an estimation of the pollution in the overall region, with maximum weightage given to air pollution, followed by water and other types of pollution. To put matters in perspective, while the annual mean of PM 2.5 in (ug/m3) of New York and London is 9 and 15 respectively, that for Delhi is 122.
The most hazardous kind of pollutant is particulate matter which causes severe health hazards. The public tends to see vehicular traffic as a major pollutant but a study of Delhi revealed that vehicles contributed a mere 6.67 percent to particulate matter in the city’s air as against 52.5 percent from road dust. Road dust, the argument often goes, is stirred up by traffic but there need to be poor quality roads before vehicular traffic can stir up dust. The condition of the roads is poorest where there has been construction activity close by because that is when debris is left unattended and roads constantly dug up and not repaired quickly as they are required to be. As regards pollution by particulate matter in the cities, it would appear, civil construction is a major cause.
This may sound opinionated but rarely in any part of the world is civil construction activity in the city areas as visibly in evidence as in India. Cities in the West, Russia, China or South-East Asia — which are also growing — show no such evidence of perpetual transformation. Spaces in India are constantly dug up and structures being erected and this is not a symptom of the immediate present but something that has been going on for decades. To compound matters, new buildings are demolished within a few years and new edifices constructed.
“MILESTONE IN RELATIONS,” SAYS CHINA ON PM MODI, XI JINPING MEET
DIPLOMACY// Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping have agreed to improve communication between the militaries of the two countries to maintain peace at the border, a top government official said today at the end of an icebreaking trip to China by PM Modi. On an informal discussion over tea recently, the leaders of the two Asian giants stressed on the importance to maintain peace in all areas of the India-China border region and that the two countries have the “maturity and wisdom to handle all their differences peacefully through talks”.
In six meetings in 24 hours, PM Modi and President Xi discussed trade, strategic military relations, tourism and other regional issues. However, there were no agreements or announcements. The informal summit between PM Modi and Xi Jinping was a “milestone in relations”, a Chinese official told reporters after the two-day meet. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou also said that Beijing will not stress on India joining China’s Belt and Road infrastructure project.
The two leaders took a long walk by China's iconic East Lake this morning followed by a boat ride and lunch, just before PM Modi left for New Delhi. These “informal meetings between the two leaders will continue,” Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said, briefing media on the summit.
In a move that could upset Pakistan, PM Modi and President Xi also agreed to undertake a joint India-China economic project in Afghanistan.
Inviting the Chinese premier for a similar informal summit in India next year, PM Modi said, “As India and China represented 40 per cent of the world's population, they need to try to work together to tackle global problems.”
“China and India are both important engines for global growth and we are central pillars for promoting a multi-polar and globalised world. A good China-India relationship is an important and positive factor for maintaining peace and stability in the world,” President Xi said.
Chinese state media has praised the tone of the "informal summit" in Wuhan. The news was splashed across front pages of several leading newspapers in the country. The extensive reportage indicates the importance being attached to this visit by the Chinese leadership.
Billed by both sides as an informal meeting rather than a summit, with none of the pomp and ceremony of a state visit such as 21-gun salutes, the two leaders held talks on Friday that lasted far longer than expected. It also included a personal tour of a major museum by President Xi. PM Modi gifted to Xi Jinping the paintings of Chinese artist Xu Beihong who taught in Visva Bharati University in West Bengal. “The friendship between the two countries should continue to grow like the Yangtze and Ganges flowing forward forever,” President Xi Jinping added.
NASA PLANS HAMMER SPACECRAFT TO PROTECT EARTH
WAR// Syria, a country in West Asia, has been gripped by war for a long time now. But last week, the war turned uglier as it appears that chemical weapons were used by the Syrian government to attack the rebels who are opposing the government.
Normal weapons such as guns and bombs cause physical damage to objects and people. Chemical weapons are absorbed by the body through the nose and mouth and cause internal damage leading to death. Workers from international organizations who are helping people affected by the war say that a chemical called Sarin was released through a bomb dropped on the city of Douma, which is controlled by the rebels. Around 60 people are feared dead due to the chemical attack, including children.
The attack is believed to have been made by the Syrian government but the government has denied the same. The United States and France have promised strict action against the Syrian government led by its President Bashar al-Assad but details of such action are not known yet.
Even before the conflict began, many Syrians were complaining about high unemployment, corruption and a lack of political freedom under President Bashar al-Assad, who succeeded his late father Hafez in 2000. In March 2011, pro-democracy demonstrations erupted in the southern city of Deraa, inspired by the “Arab Spring” in neighbouring countries. When the government used deadly force to crush the dissent, protests demanding the president's resignation erupted nationwide.
The unrest spread and the crackdown intensified. Opposition supporters took up arms, first to defend themselves and later to rid their areas of security forces. Mr Assad vowed to crush what he called “foreign-backed terrorism”.
The violence rapidly escalated and the country descended into civil war. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group with a network of sources on the ground, had documented the deaths of 353,900 people by March 2018, including 106,000 civilians. The figure did not include 56,900 people who it said were missing and presumed dead. The group also estimated 100,000 deaths had not been documented. Meanwhile, the Violations Documentation Center, which relies on activists inside Syria, has recorded what it considers violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, including attacks on civilians. It had documented 185,980 battle-related deaths, including 119,200 civilians, by February 2018.
THE END OF TIANGONG I
SPACE// Last month the Chinese space station Tiangong I crashed to earth. Luckily, it mostly burnt up as it entered Earth’s atmosphere, and whatever pieces made it through, fell into the Pacific Ocean where they sank to the bottom.
China sent up Tiangong I in 2011. In 2012 and 2013, crews of astronauts even went up and stayed aboard the space station for a few weeks. Over six years, the Chinese learnt all about what it takes to live on and operate an Earth-orbiting spacecraft. By 2016, things started to go wrong and China lost contact with Tiangong. Over the next two years, Tiangong started moving erratically, all the time moving closer and closer to Earth.
Because it was moving so erratically, scientists at space agencies had a hard time predicting when and where the craft would fall. There were worries that debris would fall on areas where people lived but luckily they fell into the Pacific.
India's highlights at the Commonwealth Games 2018
COMMONWEALTH GAMES// India finished third in the medals tally at the Commonwealth Games 2018 with 66 medals (26 Gold, 20 Silver and 20 Bronze). Only Australia with 198 medals and England with 136 were ahead. India's 26 Golds was also third, behind Australia (80) and England (45). India's combined 66 medals is its third best showing in the history of the Games. India's best remains 101 in New Delhi (2010), followed by 69 in Manchester (2002). India bettered its showing in Glasgow 2014, , where we finished fifth overall, by just two medals. In Glasgow, India claimed 15 Gold, 30 Silver and 19 Bronze. India's best Gold tally of 38 came at home in 2010.
In table tennis, it was a memorable Games for Manika Batra as she picked up medals in all events she competed in -- Singles Gold, Women's Doubles Gold, Women's Team Gold and rounding off the Games with Mixed Doubles Bronze. Batra made history by becoming the first Indian woman to win an individual table tennis Gold at the Games.
India's maximum medals came from shooting (16), followed by wrestling (12) and weightlifting (9).
The 10-member Indian table tennis team secured 8 (3 Gold, 2 Silver and 3 Bronze) medals, which turned out to be their best-ever medal haul in the history of the Games.
In the women's table tennis event, the Indian team won its first ever Commonwealth Gold. Teenager Deepak Lather from Haryana became the youngest Indian weightlifter to claim a Commonwealth Games medal, clinching a Bronze in the men’s 69kg category. Indian shooter Anish Bhanwala, aged 15, created history by becoming the country’s youngest ever Gold medal winner in the Commonwealth Games, in the men's 25m rapid fire pistol.
Neeraj Chopra from Haryana became the first Indian javelin thrower to claim a Gold medal at the Games. His medal is only the fifth track-and-field Gold for India at the Commonwealth Games — the other four being Milkha Singh (1958), discus thrower Krishna Poonia (2010), the women’s 4x400m relay quartet of Manjeet Kaur, Sini Jose, Ashwini Akkunji and Mandeep Kaur (2010) and shot-putter Vikas Gowda (2014). The Gold medal won by India's mixed badminton team is the country's first in that category at the Games. Saina Nehwal became the first Indian to win two singles Golds at the Games after defeating PV Sindhu. Saina had also won the title in 2010 in New Delhi. The Indian badminton contingent's total of seven medals (2 Gold, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze) turned out to be the best performance by any Indian badminton team at the Games. Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, who claimed India's first Gold, in the Women's 48 kg, broke three Games records in the ‘snatch’ section, the ‘clean and jerk’ and the overall Games record.
ARTIST RAM KUMAR NO MORE
DEATH// Ram Kumar, one of the India’s most famous artists died earlier this month. Ram Kumar was part of a group of artists that included MF Hussain, SH Raza and Tyeb Mehta whose work brought them fame in the decades (a decade is 10 years) after India’s independence (1947).
The image above is typical of his work. It depicts the city of Varanasi that inspired many of his famous works. The painting does not directly represent the object-this is the style that Ram Kumar specialized in. The end result is a painting that reflects the feelings or emotions that the artist associates with the objects painted. In that sense the artist is sharing his own private thoughts and visions with the viewer. What is the sense that you get from this painting?
NEW RULES FOR COASTAL AREAS ARE A CAUSE FOR WORRY
ENVIRONMENT// India has a beautiful 7500 kilometre long coastline. New rules for coastal areas suggested by the central government may destroy the coastal environment and hurt the rights of fisherfolk, feel those working for the environment.
What do the new rules say?
The new rules propose to allow development and construction closer to the shore in areas where more people live. For example, in areas where more than 2161 people live per square kilometer, construction will be allowed upto 50 metres from the high tide line. During high tide, the sea water comes closer to the shore. Under earlier rules, nothing was allowed for 200 metres from the high tide line. The fear is that tourism and commercial activities (such as shops) will take over beach areas.
No protection for mangroves
The new rules also provide for construction of roads in coastal areas, including those on stilts going over water. Worryingly, it also allows building of roads in mangrove areas. Mangrove forests near the sea are a special habitat home to many birds and animals. Plus these mangroves also prevent sand from being washed away and protect the coastline during cyclones and floods.
Fishermen worried
Among the people who are most worried are fishermen. They are worried that tourism and construction activities near the coast will hurt the environment of the beach areas and affect their fishing. Plus the areas near the shore where fisher folk used to park boats and dry nets may no longer be available if they are sold by the government to hotel and shop owners.
Although the rules are only being shared now for discussion before they are finalized, those who fight for the environment fear that beach and coastal areas will end up being sacrificed to make a few people rich.
And off to space we go!
SPACE// There have been so many space missions over the years that it is hard to imagine that a human being hasn’t stepped out of low Earth orbit (LEO) for the last 50 years. United States (US) space agency NASA is set to change that with Orion, a spacecraft that will take astronauts further into space than anyone has ever been.
What is LEO?
Low Earth Orbit or LEO refers to the movement of spacecraft around the Earth at heights less than 2000 kilometres above the Earth’s surface. Understand that the word ‘low’ here is relative. Regular airplanes fly at heights less than 12 km so a LEO orbit under 2000 km is still pretty high.
The last human to step out of LEO orbit was astronaut Eugene Cernan who stepped on to the Moon as part of NASA’s Apollo 17 mission. The Moon is at a distance of 384,400 kilometres from Earth so it’s a long way from LEO orbit.
What is the Orion mission?
The Orion spacecraft’s manned space flight will occur within the next five years. The craft, which can carry a crew of four astronauts, will go deep into space. It will circle Earth twice, go around the Moon and then head home. A test flight minus humans is planned for 2019. To travel so deep into space, Orion will need to be launched on a very special rocket. That is why NASA is working on the Space Launch System, a giant rocket that can produce the enormous thrust (force) that can propel it into deep space. Orion will be the first spacecraft to be launched using the new rocket.
Unusual build
Orion is unusual in more than its mission goals. Parts of Orion will be ‘printed out’ using 3D printers. In fact it will contain more than 100 3D-printed parts. Some of these parts are being made with a special plastic that can handle extremely high temperatures and the tremendous forces it takes to launch a spacecraft into deep space.
Hello deep space!
The Orion spacecraft is the platform on which NASA is planning manned space explorations to Mars and beyond. So, after fifty years of pretty much staying on our planet, we humans are set to make a giant leap!
Are the lions of Gir in trouble?
WILDLIFE// There has been an unusually large number of lion deaths in Gujarat’s Gir National Park.184 lions have died in 2016 and 2017 and 32 of them died due to ‘unnatural’ causes like falling into wells or getting run over by trains. Wells without a surrounding wall or parapet have become a death trap for lions and although there is plan to get parapets built for wells around Gir National Park, the work is not complete. The main problem at Gir though is the increase in the lion population from 359 in 2005 to 523 in 2015. As a result, lions are leaving the park to find territories outside. This results in deaths and conflicts with humans as lions enter farmlands. Gujarat has failed to create new reserve areas for the lions. The state is also not agreeing to shift lions to new areas in Madhya Pradesh. Unless some action is taken and soon, the fate of many lions is uncertain.